Requesting Numbers

Site Number

• The resource is a site, district, building, structure, or object with relevance to the human cultural or paleontological environment.

• The resource is 50 year of age or older, but can be 30 years of age with significance to the State Register of Historic Places.

• A complete site recording, using the appropriate Inventory Form, will be submitted to the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.

No Site Number

• Natural environmental features with no specific cultural or paleontological significance (example: natural lakes, rivers, mountain ranges).

• Vacant/parking lots with no historic component.

• Modern buildings/structures, less that 50 years old with no outstanding cultural significance to the State or National Register of Historic Places.

• Incomplete, partial, or preliminary site recordings.

Document Number

• Final Survey reports.

• Preservation plans.

• Historic Structure Assessments.

• Addendum reports.

• Excavation and monitoring reports.

• Limited results reports.

• HABS/HAER documentation.

Case by Case Document Number

These items are issued document numbers of a case by case basis. If you are preparing one of these items, please contact your preservation program contact to see if you need a document number.

• Consultation letter reports. 

• SHF deliverables.

No Document Number

• Draft reports.

• Excavation/field notes.

• Video/audio media.

• Published articles.

• Collection inventories.

If you have questions about what does and does not need a number, please email hc_filesearch@state.co.us.

Why is geospatial data required?

OAHP is committed to ensuring that site and survey information is transparent to all stakeholders as soon as possible. By providing this information during the numbering process the data becomes live in our system and is available to staff, agencies, and researchers immediately.

Does site and survey GIS data have to be final?

No. Boundaries can be preliminary, but a good faith effort by the recorder should be made to accurately portray the boundaries.  Boundaries should be finalized enough that the boundary can serve as a locational reference until the final documentation can be submitted to and updated by OAHP. 

What happens if the lead agency submits a boundary that is different from the initial boundary submitted by the recorder?

All submitted boundaries are entered into the our master geodatabase with Pending (PEN) status. After final projects are submitted, OAHP staff will overwrite preliminary, duplicate, or obsolete boundaries when the project is fully processed into our database.

Can I add additional fields to the OAHP GIS templates?

Yes.  Our office would prefer that we receive requests using our template's exact schemas, as we are able to import your data into our system more  efficiently, but if necessary, additional fields can be added to our template's as long as our fields are not removed or modified. 

Are alternatives to GIS generated data accepted?

If GIS data cannot be generated for any reason, requestors can use the OAHP CSV templates to prepare their request.

Can I submit a request for multiple projects all at once?

Yes.

What do I do with the numbers after they are assigned?

The numbers should be reflected on your submitted documentation. For site forms, there is a space provided to type the site number. For reports, the document number should be typed on the cover page. The assigned number should also be reflected in the file name of digital site forms and survey reports when they are submitted to OAHP. For example, 5DV_1234.pdf, for sites, or MC_CO_NR3.pdf, for documents. 

Colorado utilizes the Smithsonian Institution Trinomial System (SITS) for site numbers. This system specifies a state designation number (Colorado is #5), a two letter abbreviation for the county, and a sequential number for the resource.  For example, the first recorded site in Rio Blanco county is 5RB.1. Note that OAHP protocol is to include a “.” separator between the county abbreviation and the sequential number.

The OAHP document numbering convention is unique to our office. It is a three part identification system with a two letter county identifier, a two or three letter lead agency identifier, and an R (positive results) or NR (negative results) identifier followed by a sequence number.  Each number component is separated by a “.”. For example, a positive survey done for the Forest Service conducted in Garfield County might have a document ID as follows, GF.FS.R45. A historic structure assessment for a building in Clear Creek county funded by the State Historical Fund, might have the following number, CC.SHF.R3.